Kings Island News

Coasterstock: 9 Months To Plan, 12 Hours To Sell Out The Event

Going into its 6th year, Coasterstock gets more popular each year and has become a staple event for coaster enthusiasts from around the world. For the hundreds of guests that are attending, they are in for hours of morning and evening ERT on the park's favorite coasters. Other items on the itinerary of the event include a catered lunch one day and dinner on the next, guest speakers, behind the scenes tours, photo contests, and scavenger hunts. The most important part of Coasterstock are the memories and friendships that are created at the event. We have even had at least one marriage from a couple that met at Coasterstock. 

What does it take to put on an event like Coasterstock?  The coasters are there, Chef Major can just whip up some lunch and dinner for hundreds of guests pretty easily right?  Well, for the normal guest and even enthusiasts it sure seems like this would not be a big deal for the park to put together easily and then we just show up. When I spoke to Don Helbig, Area Manager, Digital Marketing at Kings Island about what it takes to put on a two day coaster event, this is what he had to say: "There is a lot involved in putting together an event like Coasterstock. It touches every division. Planning begins nine months out, starting with establishing the lineup for the morning and night exclusive ride sessions. We have to stay within a certain footprint with the ride groupings so we can get the rest of the park ready to open the next day or morning after a day of operation. Once the ride schedule has been set, then it’s on to adding in the behind-the-scenes opportunities and catered meal times. We have participants representing more than 20 states, Canada and Europe every year, so we want to make sure that we’re allowing enough time around the Coasterstock activities for everyone to enjoy and experience the rest of the park. In January, the event gets published on our website and we begin the process of setting up the ticket packages in the online store. Once tickets are set up, we’re ready to announce the on-sale date and begin promoting the date on our owned and shared channels. The event t-shirt and lanyards are ordered around the beginning of March. Once the t-shirts and lanyards come in, we begin the process of fulfilling the pre-check orders. This can take up to a week to complete."